Linguini with Vegetables and Ricotta

Pasta is probably my favourite food after bread, and if I can have both together I am pretty well in culinary heaven. I cook a lot of pasta dishes, some quick and light, some more substantial and either way they are always satisfying and good in their simplicity.

I made this pasta for dinner using some vegetables that I intended to use and didn’t get around to in the last couple of days. I had Shitake mushrooms that were accidentally left out of a lasagna I made the other day (with kale and mushrooms, recipe to be posted) and I had broccolini and red onion as well as ricotta from the Italian store. I decided to combine these into a pasta dish without tomato sauce or cream. Just a little stock and a little white wine to round up the flavours. You can begin with the vegetables as soon as you put the water for pasta on to boil and it will all finish at the same time. If you cook the vegetables early they can be set aside for a while until the pasta is cooked. When the pasta is cooked return the vegetables to the heat, add the drained pasta, adding a little of the cooking liquid to allow the starch to thicken things up a little. When it’s hot and nicely combined serve immediately, topped with spoonfuls of ricotta.

See below the beautiful Alessi pasta pot from Italy. It’s a work of art. The pot contains a colander inside that makes it easy to drain the pasta without draining the water. When cooking pasta you want to keep some of the water to add to the sauce to thicken or thin it as necessary (the starch from the pasta acts as thickening agent). The Alessi pots are expensive but there are less expensive versions that although not as beautifully designed, work just as well. As you can see I am partial to Italian design. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity.

4 Comments

Hello Dina,
I am in London currently and your recipe looks perfection my limited kitchen. The markets are amazing herewith lots of fresh goodness and greens. I will try it and let you know how it works.

Judy, I keep responding to your comment having a different recipe in mind. I made pasta with Mizithra and uncooked tomatoes yesterday and I can’t get it out of my mind. To answer you question properly: use gluten free pasta that is Italian in style and you should get the same results. If you use Asian pasta such as rice noodles you may want to leave the cheese out.